Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 20. (5/14/1901)

Review and Herald

May 14, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1901

“NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME”

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

EVERY true child of God will be sifted as wheat, and in the sifting process every cherished pleasure which diverts the mind from God must be sacrificed. In many families the mantel-shelves, stands, and tables are filled with ornaments and pictures. Albums filled with photographs of the family and their friends are placed where they will attract the attention of visitors. Thus the thoughts, which should be upon God and heavenly interests, are brought down to common things. Is not this a species of idolatry? Should not the money thus spent have been used to bless humanity, to relieve the suffering, to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry? Should it not be placed in the Lord’s treasury to advance His cause and build up His kingdom in the earth?

This matter is of great importance, and it is urged upon you to save you from the sin of idolatry. Blessing would come to your souls if you would obey the word spoken by the Holy One of Israel, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Many are creating unnecessary cares and anxieties for themselves by devoting time and thought to the unnecessary ornaments with which their houses are filled. The power of God is needed to arouse them from this devotion; for to all intents and purposes it is idolatry.

He who searches the heart desires to win His people from every species of idolatry. Let the word of God, the blessed book of life, occupy the tables now filled with useless ornaments. Spend your money in buying books that will be the means of enlightening the mind in regard to present truth. The time you waste in moving and dusting the multitudinous ornaments in your house, spend in writing a few lines to your friends, in sending papers or leaflets or little books to some one who knows not the truth. Grasp the word of the Lord as the treasure of infinite wisdom and love; this is the guide-book that points out the path to heaven. It points us to the sin-pardoning Saviour, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Oh that you would search the Scriptures with prayerful hearts, and a spirit of surrender to God! Oh that you would search your hearts as with a lighted candle, and discover and break the finest thread that binds you to worldly habits, which divert the mind from God! Plead with God to show you every practice that draws your thoughts and affections from Him. God has given His holy law to man as His measure of character. By this law you may see and overcome every defect in your character. You may sever yourself from every idol, and link yourself to the throne of God by the golden chain of grace and truth.

The apostle writes: “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.” “The night is far spent; the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

There is none too much self-denial, none too much self-sacrifice, none too much overcoming evil with good. If all the inclinations to gratify the taste for frivolous things were firmly resisted, there would be more money to use for God. Shall we not make decided changes in this respect? Shall we not set money flowing in channels where it will glorify God?

When I see families poorly clad, and houses destitute of those things that are necessary for comfort, and then visit the homes where every niche and corner is filled with useless ornaments, I am tired of the sight of my eyes. Let us search the Word and see if there is not some instruction there that will teach us how to relieve the maladies that have become chronic in the spiritual life of many. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?” God asks, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. . . . If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity,” Paul declares, “I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.”

The Son of the infinite God came to this earth, and honored it with His presence. He emptied himself of His glory, and clothed His divinity with humanity, that humanity might touch humanity, and reveal to fallen man the perfect love of God. Christ did not come to earth to live a life of pleasure, of self-indulgence. He lived not to please himself. “The Son of man,” He said, “is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

We have great changes to make before we reach perfection. God calls for complete self-surrender. We must guard diligently our lips, lest they speak guile. We must be strict with ourselves, that we bring not false principles into our dealings with others, and lead souls from the safe path. We must work the works of God. Adhere to correct principles, whatever the cost to yourself. In appeals and warnings let your light shine forth to others. Economize your pence, that you may have pounds with which to help the cause of truth. Keep your tables free from many pictures and ornaments, which are as nothing in comparison with the word of God. Let your holy example lead the sympathies of your friends heavenward; “for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen on me. For whatsoever things were written

aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Jesus Christ: that ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

LIFE

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

METHINKS that I stand by a deep, mighty river, That silently flows toward an infinite sea, And sometimes the waves dash in pitiless grandeur, And sometimes they murmur like music to me. And look! there are barges with white banners streaming, So swiftly and silently sweeping along, And the prayer of the saint and the curse of the scoffer Are strangely commingled with reveler's song. And some of the barks are enshrouded with darkness, And some wear a halo of heavenly light, While some are led on by the hand of an angel, And some by the furious demons of night, And some are in quiet, and some are in strife,— Ah, this is a picture—a picture of life.

—Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle.

GOD'S WILL CONCERNING US

By J. E. Green

J. E. GREEN

WHILE making a scrap-book, I came across the following excellent question and answer, in an old Witness, and I copy them for the Review:—

How can we best discern the guiding hand of God, in answer to prayer, in personal, practical life? God speaks to us, generally, through His word, but what about the details of every-day business life? Shall I do this thing or that? go this way or that way, or engage in this or that occupation?

The first point is to satisfy your mind thoroughly that God has promised to guide us in all matters. Because, when you are quite sure of that, you will be in a position to claim the fulfillment of the promise, and to believe that it is being fulfilled, even if you do not see such results as you desire.

The true principles of action are very clearly laid down in the word of God, and His promise to guide us is conditional on our obedience.

We can not expect to find in the Bible explicit directions in regard to all the questions that come up in every-day life, although by means of some expressions in the Bible, at times God does throw light upon difficult problems, in regard to the course of action to be pursued. But generally we must trust to the personal guidance of the Holy Spirit. If we constantly seek that guidance and believe in it while doing the very best we can, we have a right to expect that God will be as good as His word.

Take the simplest example: By what streets shall I go to reach a certain place? It may appear to be a matter of indifference which route I take, one way seeming quite as good in every respect as the other. But it is not an indifferent matter at all. There is more temptation to be encountered on one street than on the other; on this street there is opportunity for helping some one; for acquiring knowledge, something to be seen which will be an inspiration for service, or something which may be a warning against evil— all to be missed by taking the other route. If I ignore the fact that even the smallest incidents in life are fraught with tremendous possibilities, and allow the whim of the moment to decide such questions as the above, then I shall not only lose the benefit of God's guidance in these matters, but shall also do my own soul great injury, by encouraging the thought that in some things I have no need of special help from God. This thought will inevitably weaken my consciousness of God's presence with me, and will thus weaken my hold on Him and my capacity for receiving guidance and help from Him.

But if in all the little matters of every-day life, the apparently unimportant things, I humbly seek and confidently look for God's guidance, at the same time trying to work out the principles of the gospel in a consecrated life, then God will guide every step and every action; and day by day and year by year I will grow more able to discern His hand and voice, leading me on.

But I must not suppose that if God guides me, I will thereby escape all disappointments and trials and losses. And I must not expect that under God's guidance I will never make mistakes, that is, what will look like mistakes. What I must believe is that the disappointment, the trial, the loss, even the apparently stupid blunder, was part of God's plan for my life, and that in and through all these things God is able to bless me, or others through me, more efficiently than He would have done without them.

Surely this must be so, if God has promised to guide me, and if I take Him at His word, and fulfill His conditions. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee,” says Isaiah. How can we be kept in perfect peace unless we can feel quite sure that God is in all the experiences of life, and is working out through each and every one of them His own purposes of love in us, and for us, and by us?

God guides His faithful and trusting servants through their thoughts or through outward instrumentalities. Quite often God hedges up the way in which His servant wishes to go, and opens up another way—His way.

A LESSON FROM THE PAST

By D. E. Lindsay

D. E. LINDSAY

My mind has reverted of late to the time “when the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, and at once assigned a Lord’s day meeting-place for the Separatist Church,”—“a timber fort both strong and comely, with flat roof and battlements;” and to this fort, every Sunday, the “men and women walked reverently, three in a row, and in it they worshiped.” The favorite term for Sunday was Lord’s day. Great pride was taken in having their houses “daubed and whitened over workmanlike.” While the spirit of humility prevailed, their houses of worship were builded in the valleys, but as pride came in, they exalted themselves upon the hilltops, until John Eliot, climbing a hill, leaning upon the arm of a friend, remarked: “This is very like the way to heaven; ’tis uphill. The Lord by His grace fetch us up.”

In those Puritan days, for which some are now longing, “each citizen was forced by law to take part in or contribute to raising the meeting-hows,” some supplying “nayles,” others logs, lumber, horses’ and men’s labor, and “a levie was always made for rum and cacks” (cakes). For windows, they had oiled paper. The windows had no shutters, and the houses no stoves.

“The old house of Puritanic wood, Through whose unpainted windows streamed, On seats as primitive and rude As Jacob’s pillow when he dreamed, The white and undiluted day.”

The marks of these staid worshipers were not all obliterated in my own boyhood days, when my father, then a missionary, went from town to town in old Massachusetts. At the first the trees were cut a distance from the house of worship, to guard against the attack of the savages; but as the settlements became stronger, the trees were allowed to grow, until darkness reigned within. A good old parson, thus gloomily surrounded, gave out for his text, “Why do the wicked live?” and as he peered in the dim light at his manuscript, he exclaimed, abruptly, “I hope they will live long enough to cut down this great hemlock tree back of the pulpit window.”

On the doors of meeting-houses were nailed notices of “prohibitions from selling guns and powder to the Indians, notices of town meetings, intentions of marriages, copies of the laws against Sabbath-breaking, messages from the Quakers, warnings of bandoos, etc. On the meeting-house green stood the Puritanical instruments of punishment, the stocks, the whipping-post, pillory, and cage.” Church and State had never been severed since the flight from fatherland. Oftentime the “powder closite” was found in the steeple or “in the beams of the roof;” and although in some towns they would not allow the smoking of tobacco upon the streets, yet their greed for gain led them to store tobacco in the church loft to cure, that they might sell it to the “ungodly Dutch.”

Pride soon led to the painting of their houses in gaudy colors; for the Pomfret meeting-house was painted a bright yellow, Brooklyn church, orange, with an “electaric rod,” and it was declared to be the “newest, biggest, and yallowest” in the country.

Internally the houses of worship were very plain, the pulpit being most pretentious, often like a swallow’s nest on the wall, with a narrow flight of stairs. One pulpit had for its principal decoration “an enormous, carefully painted eye, a terribly suggestive illustration to youthful wrong-doers of the great, all-seeing eye of God.”

The people usually went armed to meeting; “and to sanctify the Sunday gun-loading, they were expressly forbidden to fire off their charges at any object on that day, save an Indian or a wolfe.”

“So once, for fear of Indian beating, Our grandsires bore their guns to meeting,— Each man equipped on Sunday morn, With psalm book, shot, and powderhorn, And looked in form, as all must grant, Like the ancient, true church militant.”

While much time might be spent and much be written of many interesting things of Puritan days, I wish most to speak of Puritanic Sunday observance. By the examination of the records, we find that “a wicked fisherman was fined for catching eels on Sunday; two lovers, John and Sarah, tried for sitting together under an apple-tree on ye Lord’s day.” A man was sharply whipped for shooting a fowl on Sunday; another for carrying a grist of flour home on that day; the miller was also fined for allowing him to have it. A woman was fined ten shillings for wringing clothes, and a man “for writing a note about common business on the Lord’s day, at least in the evening too soon.”

Fines, imprisonments, etc., were imposed for “gathering peas,” “driving the cow too far,” “raking hay,” “pulling apples,” and the ridiculousness of it all met the climax in fining a soldier forty shillings for “wetting a piece of an old hat to put in his shoe,” to protect his foot,—unless the setting of Captain Kimble in the stocks for two hours, for kissing his wife publicly, could be more so, the captain having just returned from a three-years’ voyage. In Vermont the laws declared that “whoever was guilty of any rude, profane, or unlawful conduct on the Lord’s day, in word or action, by clamorous discourses, shouting, hallooing, screaming, running, riding, dancing, jumping, was to be fined forty shilling, and whipped upon the naked back, not to exceed ten stripes.” “Profanation of the Lord’s day shall be punished by fine, imprisonment, or corporeal punishment; and if proudly and with a high hand against the authority of God—with death.” Not content with strict observance of Sunday, the Puritans included Saturday evening in their holy day.

Illustrative of the gloomy Puritan Sunday observance, John Norton describes the keeping of the day by John Cotton, grandfather of Cotton Mather: “He began the Sabbath at evening; therefore then performed family duty after supper, being longer in exposition, after which he catechised his children and servants, and then returned to his study. The morning following, family worship being ended, he retired into his study until the bell called him away. Upon his return from meeting, he returned again to his study (the place of his labor and prayer) unto his private devotion; where, having a small repast carried him up for his dinner, he continued until the tolling of the bell. The public service being over, he withdrew for a space to his pre-mentioned oratory, for his sacred addresses to God, as in the forenoon, then came down, repeated

the sermon in the family, prayed, after supper sang a psalm, and toward bedtime, betaking himself again to his study, he closed the day with prayer.”

The sermons were sometimes “three hours long.” Just imagine with what interest those Puritan boys and servants would listen the second time to a sermon to which the tithing man could not induce them to listen patiently at the first, with the fear of his wand before them.

While we admire the zeal of our Puritan ancestors, yet we feel that much of their religion was of the pharisaic kind, which would lead an ox to water on the Sabbath, but would not loose a daughter of Abraham from physical infirmity on that day,—which would rob widows’ houses, and then for a pretense make long prayers,—and so, now, while we admire the zeal of our latter-day Sunday observance agitators, judging them by their many public utterances, we fear that should they succeed in uniting the Church and the State to the extent they desire, the same intolerant spirit—the spirit of the dragon—would be manifest.

Why not allow God to have His own, and render to Cæsar that which is his? Why not let the State pursue its legitimate calling, and allow God to govern His own moral kingdom? Why not take the Sabbath God has given us, and call it a delight, rather than take a spurious day, the mark of the man of sin, and force it upon the consciences of others? Why not allow our fathers, with their crude ideas and cruder laws, to rest in the memory of the past, while we press forward in the message for our generation? Why shall we become the children of Hagar when we may be the seed of Abraham? Why seek to enslave our fellows in their consciences, instead of following the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus?

Evidently all this Sunday agitation is born from beneath, and is but a fulfillment of prophecy, and to the children of light an evidence of the soon coming of our King and His everlasting reign with his saints.

Patience, brethren, patience! The patience of the saints is demanded. The harvest is not far away. The crown will soon be given.

GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH

By GEO. WATSON

GEO. WATSON

“BUT with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” Gen. 6:18.

When the world was filled with violence, and all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth, and even the imaginations of the heart of man were only evil continually, and God had declared that His Spirit should not always strive with man, even then Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah believed that when God speaks, He means just what He says; and that there is a limit to that unmerited favor, a time when justice will demand the life of him who willingly, presumptuously sins away that day of grace. God’s mercy is extended to humanity, not that we may trample upon it with impunity, and by our actions despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that it is the goodness of God which leads us to repentance. Rom. 2:4.

The knowledge that the time was limited in which God’s Spirit would strive with man (Noah included) led Noah to repent of his sins, and seek the Lord with all his heart, and consecrate himself fully to the Lord.

To repent of his sins is the first thing demanded of the sinner, and all that any sinner has to do to obtain forgiveness is to repent and confess his sins. 1 John 1:9.

“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Gen. 6:9. He had sweet communion with the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and being justified, by faith (Rom. 5:1), by grace (3:24), he was prepared to do the works of God. To perform the good works which God has before ordained is to walk with God, as Noah did. God “hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world [we were chosen when Noah was], that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

Walking with God, who worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will, Noah received the commission, “Make thee an ark of gopher wood.” Gen. 6:14. We have no record that Noah asked any questions as to how any one could be saved out of such a wicked generation; perhaps he thought himself the chief of sinners. The Word says he did “according to all that God commanded him.” Verse 22. No amount of reasoning could make him swerve from the command included the power to accomplish. That is faith. Rom. 10:17.

Then comes the blessed invitation, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” How could it be possible for a man to be found righteous before God in such a generation? All things are not possible with man, but all things are possible with God, and He never asks us to undertake anything alone. In fact, it is an insult to the King of heaven to undertake anything without God.

Now comes the great test to Noah’s family. Will they enter the ark with him? Not a cloud can be seen, and to all human reasoning all things are as they have been from the beginning of creation; but now, without delay, they must bid farewell to all their earthly companions, and enter the ark. Will they heed the last warning message? They have been taught that the word of God is the end of all controversy, and that the Lord is able to perform that which He has promised. “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” They had seen no rain yet, but God had spoken.

Noah was a true missionary. When he received the command, he began work in his own household. “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Heb. 11:7. When he and his family were safe within the ark, he still left the door of mercy open. He was faithful in performing the work assigned him, but did not try to do that which belonged only to the Lord. He stood still, and waited to see the salvation of the Lord. That was Noah’s part, “And the Lord shut him in.” Gen. 7:16, last clause.

The covenant established with Noah was founded on the better promises. Heb. 8:6. We do not find the record of any promise that Noah made, but we are told that he “did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.”

“Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

THE MYSTERIES OF GOD

By M. H.

M. H., in King’s Messenger

MEAT in due season will always include things new, and old truths applicable to the present time. “Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2); and faithfulness in this respect will sometimes lead to rejection and misunderstanding on the part of those who would otherwise be benefitted. Truths, hid since the foundation of the world, are now being revealed to those who live near to God, and so learn His secrets. There are mysteries of God, and mysteries of evil. There is the mystery of Babylon, and the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and only God through the divine Spirit can unravel the mysteries and make them plain to our understandings. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,” is sometimes quoted as if God did not intend to reveal His secrets to His children while in the present state of being; but the next verse, which is often overlooked, tells us that “God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” 1 Cor. 2:9, 10.

The Spirit that inspired the Bible to be written for our learning, must also inspire the expounding, the revealing, of all truth. There are truths now due to the household of faith; and God has even now stewards of His mysteries. The Holy Ghost above can prompt and use these instruments to give to His household “meat in due

season,” truths for the present time. God’s bread is always new, fresh, and leavening; for the letter, without the Spirit, killeth, but the Spirit quickeneth, or giveth life.

We ask for the old paths, and look back longingly to apostolic times, while God is asking us to look up, to look ahead to the far greater times before us, and asking us, if we were not so dull of comprehension, to believe and receive the truths for the present time—truths belonging to the great day of the Lord, into which we have entered. We are in the end of the times of the Gentiles, and the beginning of the day of the Lord, the great day of Jehovah’s judgment, when He will gather the nations into the valley of Jehoshaphat (meaning the “judgment of Jehovah”) to plead with them there for His people.

Wars and rumors of wars; all nations armed to the teeth; the hearts of kings and statesmen failing them for fear, while they look for the things that are coming on the earth, are all pregnant signs of the times, not to be overlooked by the wise stewards of the household. “These are the beginning of sorrows,” or travail to bring forth a new order of things. The birth must take place in due time, and the new era be ushered in amid the pangs and sorrows of a dying age.

We have been so ignorant in the past that we verily thought that God would appear on this earth, judge the whole world, and settle everything, even to the burning of the earth; do all the business of settling everything and taking us up into glory, in about twenty-four hours. But God’s day is a period of time, a fixed period, known to himself, and revealed to us by the Spirit.

The day of judgment for the Jews lasted for about forty years, from the time of the crucifixion to the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, when the temple was destroyed, and the Jewish age closed finally; although the closing period began when the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, because the true sacrifice was now offered, of which the former sacrifices were only typical.

The new age was inaugurated at Pentecost; so we see how, for nearly forty years, the new and the old ran parallel with each other; an overlapping of the new and the old. At that time the Jews were almost exterminated, those that survived being carried away captive into all nations, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

The destruction of Jerusalem after forty years of judgment, was a true type of what may be expected in the present time. Jerusalem will be the scene of the closing operations of the Spirit; all nations will be gathered against her to battle; and the Lord will fight for His people, as foretold by the prophet. The outward and visible coming of Christ to the earth to set up the throne of His kingdom, will not take place till that time. But He tells us when these things begin to come to pass, we are to look up, and lift up our heads, for our redemption draweth nigh.

What redemption?—The redemption of our bodies; the redemption of the land for which our Redeemer died. There is collective truth relating to peoples and nations. There is also individual truth, which relates to the salvation of the individual man. The most important truth to the individual is that which relates to himself. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The truth up-to-date for the advanced Christian, is redemption of his body, Rom. 8:23. This has been overlooked till the present day, because the time had not fully come for the last displays of saving grace in the individual.

Now, the Holy Ghost is revealing to us our blessed privilege, that we may believe, even as Enoch, who “by faith” was translated that he should not see death—justified, by faith, sanctified by faith, translated by faith. There is no haphazard with God. To them that look for Him, and to none else, will He appear the second time, change our body of humiliation, and fashion it like His “own glorious body.” If we are to be among the “changed ones,” the Spirit witnesses with our spirit, and we shall have the testimony, even as Simeon, who knew that he would not see death, till he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

MURMUR NOT

By Mrs. W. L. Coffee

MRS. W. L. COFFEE

How can we murmur if we realize that God is leading us, that He loves and cares for us? Just as He led ancient Israel out of Egypt, the land of bondage, so He is leading us out of the darkness of sin and unbelief, into the glorious light of His blessed truth.

Have you met with hardship and danger on the way? So did His ancient people. But you say, “My trials are peculiar.” In what way, my brother? We have an High Priest who was tempted in all points like as we are. Let us trust in Him, and what now seem like stumbling-blocks in our way, will become stepping-stones to the land of promise.

When sometimes the way seems so hard that we can scarcely realize that His hand is leading us, then we can say, with one of old, “He knoweth the way that I take.” Yes, blessed thought! He knows. Sometimes that is the most that our faith can grasp. But just then let us hold on to that, and soon will come the thought, He cares. If He cares for me, surely He loves me, even me, praise His name! I am rich in the love of our Father in heaven,—rich in the promise of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

“My brother, my sister, press on; the goodly land is just before you, and the Hand that leads you is strong to uphold and deliver. “Be strong and of a good courage,” for “the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

SOME P’S AND Q’S

By Elizabeth Carpenter

PRAY, little lads and lassies gay, One lesson do not lose; As through the world you wend your way, Oh, mind your P’s and Q’s!

For while P stands for pears and plums, For pleasantness and plays, For patience and for promptitude, For peace, politeness, praise;

Yet, lackaday! it leads in pert, In pinches, pests, and pain, Perverse, and petulant, and pry, And also in profane!

Q stands for Quaker quietness, For quinces, quality, For quickness, and for queenliness, For quaint, and quittance free;

But then, it heralds quake and quail, And querulous — indeed, All quibbles, quarrels, quips, and quirks, And quacks, it serves at need.

Then watch them, little maids and men; For folks will soon excuse Full many a fault and foible when You mind your P’s and Q’s.

—Elizabeth Carpenter, in St. Nicholas.

ISRAEL’S CAPTIVITY IN EGYPT

By W. P. Hendrickson

W. P. HENDRICKSON

(Hood, N. M.)

MANY believe the Bible teaches that Israel was in Egyptian bondage four hundred years, and for proof of this position we are cited to Gen. 15:13, which reads: “And He [the Lord] said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.”

There are many ways in which one people may “afflict” another without making slaves of them. Let us see whether Israel was really in bondage four hundred years in Egypt. “Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee. . . . So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; . . . and Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance . . . that they had gotten . . . in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan.” Gen. 12:4, 5. This was in the year 1921 B. C., as will appear by consulting chronology.

We will pass over the history of Israel till the time that Jacob and his family went down to Egypt, in the year 1706 B. C., just two hundred and fifteen years after Abram left his “father’s house” (1921—1706 = 215). It is evident that Israel had not been in Egyptian bondage up to this time. “And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee; the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell. . . . And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, . . . as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread [“as a little child is nourished,” margin].” Gen. 47:5–12. By reading the whole chapter, it will be seen that Joseph did not so “nourish” the Egyptians.

“Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh. . . . And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have a fifth part.” Verses 23–26.

“And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.” Verse 27.

In this history, it does not appear that Israel was compelled to give money, to sell their stock or themselves, as were the Egyptians; for “Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession . . . in the best of the land, . . . as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren.” Verses 11, 12.

Thus Israel dwelt in Egypt, being nourished through the years of famine; and Jacob, after being in Egypt seventeen years, died, in 1689 B. C. Gen. 49:33. Fifty-four years later “Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old.” Gen. 50:26. His death occurred in 1635 B. C., seventy-one years after his father went to Egypt (1706—1635 = 71). There are no signs of slavery yet.

“And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.” Ex. 1:7. The terrible famine that had raged seven years had left the Egyptians in slavery to Pharaoh, while Israel had been “nourished” by Joseph, and given “a possession . . . in the best of the land.”

But “now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” His jealous eye saw the “mighty” increase of Israel, and he reasoned that they were likely to become more powerful than the Egyptians, unless something was done to check their increase; so he said to his people: “Come on, let us deal wisely with them. . . . Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens: . . . And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with vigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, . . . and Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.” Verses 8–22.

How dreadful! how different from when “Joseph nourished them,” and when they were given “a possession” by the king, who welcomed them to the “best of the land.”

Under the reign of this new king we see slavery established over Israel in all its horrors. This occurred in the year 1573 B. C., or three hundred and forty-eight years after Abram left his father’s house (1921—1573 = 348). Two years later Moses was born (Ex. 2:2); and in the year 1491 B. C. he led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt—just four hundred and thirty years after Abraham left his father’s house (1921—1491 = 430).

“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.” Ex. 12:40, 41.

As already noticed, the children of Israel were brought into bondage, or slavery, under the reign of the new king who knew not Joseph, in the year 1573 B. C., and they were led out of Egypt by Moses in 1491 B. C. It is plain, then, that they were in slavery only eighty-two years—from 1573–1491.

MOLDING THE CLAY

By Transcript

WITHIN their tiny hands my children hold A ball of yielding clay, And, as they try some dainty form to mold, I hear them softly say, “What shall we make? an apple or a vase? Some marbles, or a fan?” One little boy, a smile upon his face, Says, “I shall make a man.”

Straightway, with lengthened face, he at his task Begins, and ’neath the hands Unskilful, weak, and yet too proud to ask For aid, a form expands, Crude, and yet not too poor to show the man Hid in the maker’s thought— How different yet if some skilled artisan The ball of clay had wrought!

To-day within my hands my children lie; I shape them as I will, And seek for aid from Him that is on high, That He may with His skill Teach my weak, willing hands to rightly mold The clay that I have sought, That in true forms of beauty may unfold The Maker’s highest thought.

— Transcript.

Rejoicing in Hope Through Our Heavenly Advocate

“We may rejoice in hope. Our Advocate is in the heavenly sanctuary, pleading in our behalf. Through His merits we have pardon and peace.”

Continue reading: AN INVITATION TO THE HONEST IN HEART